DUAL Olympic gold medallist Graeme Brown will ride in next week’s Bendigo International Madison for the first time.
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The 35-year-old will partner rising star Sam Welsford in the feature event.
“It’s fantastic news for us because Graeme was going to ride in South Africa, but he chose to come to Bendigo instead,’’ BIM chief executive Rik McCaig said.
“Scott Law was going to ride with Sam Welsford, but he needed a break after the world titles. We needed a high quality rider to partner Sam, so to get Graeme is terrific for the race.
“We’ve tried to get Graeme before, but it had never worked out. He is such a great competitor…he’ll be exciting to watch.
“Sam Welsford is being targeted as the next Cycling Australia madison rider, so he has plenty of talent.
“The Brown and Welsford team will be right up there, they’ll put plenty of pressure on Glenn O’Shea and Jack Bobridge, the Germans (Leif Lampater and Christian Grassman) and (defending champions) Sam Crome and Roy Pieters.
“It should be a great race.”
Brown, who now rides for Drapac Professional Cycling, won Olympic gold in Athens in the madison with Stuart O’Grady and in the team pursuit alongside Bradley McGee, Brett Lancaster and Luke Roberts.
Brown spent nine years on the world tour with the Dutch Rabobank and Belkin teams where he won stages of some of the world’s biggest road races. He was also awarded the Order of Australia Medal in 2005.
Brown won’t ride in next Friday night’s criterium around the CBD, but he will be on the Tom Flood Sports Centre track on Saturday for the carnival’s opening night of action.
